Delahunty and Garvey
Phonetics and phonology are concerned with the sounds of language, mor-
phology with the structure of words, vocabulary with our store of words,
orthography with the spelling system, syntax with the principles of sentence
structure, semantics with the literal meanings of words and sentences, prag-
matics with the meanings that arise when expressions are used in specific
contexts, and discourse with the linguistic and rhetorical patterns in texts of
various kinds. As we proceed, you will learn the intricate ways in which the
system operates.
For the moment, let us look at one concrete example of how the system
creates interdependencies among its rules and components. The syntactic rule
for yes/no questions is connected to the rules of pronunciation, specifically
the rules for intonation, the musical pattern of speech. Listen to the rise and
fall of your voice as you say (3a) as a statement of fact and (3b) as a question:
(3) a. They’re leaving at 6:00.
b. They’re leaving at 6:00?The order of words stays the same, but the intonation pattern indicates
whether the sentence is to be interpreted as a statement or as a question.
In this book, we will begin our discussion with a skeletal overview of
English grammar, beginning with the largest grammatical units (sentences)
and working down to the smallest (sounds and letters). This is the opposite
of our presentation of the grammar in the following chapters. There we be-
gin with the smallest units and work our way up to the largest. We hope that
by spiraling in this way, readers who have no background in language study
will get an initial orientation, and those who have had some background
will get a quick refresher before venturing into greater depth.
competence and performance.
As we mentioned, modern linguists distinguish between the knowledge that
speakers of a language must have in order to be able to use that language, and
the actual use they make of that knowledge to speak, understand, read, or
write. Linguists call our unconscious knowledge of the rules that constitute
the language competence, and our linguistic activities that make use of that
knowledge, performance.
Performance provides ample evidence of competence. We can use our abil-
ity to specify what is and what is not grammatical (i.e., consistent with the
unconscious rules of our language). Consider the following:
(4) *The blocking the entrance protester was arrested.